Saudi Arabia's King Salman Abdulaziz Al Saud would not have come to Malaysia if there was anything "shady" with the RM2.6 billion donation to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, said an Umno minister.
Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz said the kingdom would not like to be associated with shady dealings.
"If he (King Salman) is not comfortable with what has been reported about the RM2.6 billion, he wouldn't have come," Nazri said.
It was established by investigators that Najib had received US$681 million in his personal accounts in March 2013.
Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali had cleared the premier of any wrongdoing, and said the sum had come from a member of the Saudi royal family.
Critics however claim that the money had instead been misappropriated from 1MDB.
Asked whether King Salman's visit would dispel such aspersions, Nazri replied: "I don't know."
He reiterated that the monarch would not have visited Malaysia if he was uncomfortable with the reports.
King Salman was in Malaysia for a four-day state visit starting last Sunday.
During his stay here, he pledged that Saudi Arabia would extend resources to help Malaysia in its efforts to help other Muslims.
Meanwhile, on a related matter, Nazri dismissed findings in Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer (Asia Pacific) 2017 which found that 60 percent of Malaysians believe the country has become more corrupt.
This was double that of the corruption perception in 2014.
Nazri, however, said this was just perception, and that he was not bothered by this.
"I'm more concerned about fighting corruption.
"I think the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission is doing a good job, we should give them our fullest support not demoralise them," the Padang Rengas MP said. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.